COULD A VODA / T-MOBILE UK DEAL WORK AND WOULD IT GET PAST THE REGULATORS?

<strong>EMEKA OBIODU </strong> OVUM<br /> This is not a case of a square peg in a square hole. Why should two seemingly underperforming businesses merge? Vodafone and T-Mobile have suffered revenue declines whereas O2 and Orange have grown theirs. Would two businesses with declining revenues suddenly turn a corner?<br /><br /><strong>MANOJ LADWA </strong> ETX CAPITAL<br /> Expect some volatility in UK telco stocks as the market makes up its mind whether it likes this potential deal and whether it thinks that Vodafone can pull it off. Given that similarly dominant players exist in France, Italy and Spain the UK regulators might let this one through.<br /><br /><strong>DAVID BUIK </strong> BCG PARTNERS<br /> Despite dominant players in Spain and Australia having over 40 per cent of their respective domestic markets I suspect hell has a better chance of freezing over than those tiresome people from the UK regulatory authorities agreeing to such an audacious plan. <br /><br /><strong>TOM GIDLEY-KITCHIN </strong> CHARLES STANLEY<br /> Everyone is aware that T-Mobile is potentially up for sale and it is very likely that Vodafone would be interested in buying. Regulation could be a major stumbling block. But it is a question of price and regulation &ndash; Deutsche Telekom may just decide to pull the sale.